WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. — Bob Hartman has been a Whitehall schools student, athlete, teacher, multiple-sport coach, 23-year director of athletics and a 2024 Hall of Fame inductee.
Shortly after Whitehall-Coplay School Board accepted Hartman’s letter of retirement Monday night, district Superintendent Christopher Schiffert encapsulated Hartman's impact on the school community.
"He lives, breathes, eats and sleeps Whitehall. He bleeds Whitehall."Christopher Schiffert, superintendent, Whitehall-Coplay School District
“He lives, breathes, eats and sleeps Whitehall,” Schiffert said. “He bleeds Whitehall. You don’t just replace someone like Bob Hartman.”
However, that is precisely the job at hand, as Hartman’s retirement becomes effective Aug. 13.
“We’ll have conversations now about how we want to move forward with the process of getting someone new in place as quickly as we can,” Schiffert said.
“We’d like to have some transition time built in before he leaves in August, to make sure he’s able to really get as much time as possible in helping whoever the new person would be.”
Hartman did not attend the board meeting. He did not respond to a voicemail left on his school office phone Monday morning seeking comment.
A Whitehall High School Class of 1990 graduate, Hartman was a multi-sport athlete and coach prior to becoming director of athletics in June 2002.
He coached six PIAA state place winners in wrestling and served as an assistant junior high school football coach.
Hartman, 53, has served as District XI chairman since 2014 and vice president of the PIAA Board of Directors since 2020.
He also has received multiple PIAA Athletic Director of the Year awards.
Schiffert calls Hartman’s retirement bittersweet.
“I know he’s looking at some new endeavors and different things,” he said. “But it’s sad.
"I came to Whitehall 15 years ago, and he was one of the first people that I was really able to connect with. It’ll be hard not working with him anymore.”
Abatement project approved
Also Monday, the board unanimously approved a resolution for the Steckel Elementary School and Whitehall-Coplay Middle School Environmental Abatement Project.
The Capital Improvement Plan consists of replacing all the windows at the 56-year-old middle school and replacing electrical, plumbing and heating, ventilation and air conditioning units at both schools.
The systems are either beyond repair or non-compliant with modern building codes, officials said.
The middle school windows project will be done in two phases: Half the windows will be installed this summer 2025 and the rest in summer 2026.
Last August, state Rep. Jeanne McNeill, D-133rd District, secured a $500,000 grant for the projects through a Local Share Account Program and Public School Facility Improvement Grant Program.
